


Mushroom

by Skullbubble



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Chickens, Embarrassment, Gen, Loud Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullbubble/pseuds/Skullbubble
Summary: In which Asra goes looking for mushrooms and is saved by a chicken.
Relationships: Apprentice & Asra (The Arcana), Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	Mushroom

The path through the forest is dappled with afternoon sunlight as Asra skips and dances between the trees, Faust looped around his shoulders. The breeze is made of buzzing and birdsong, and the air is warm on his face. It is a perfect day to pick mushrooms.

He has been working on a tincture to make Julian sleep or, failing that, at least make him lie down until it has worn off. There’s a mushroom - Hypha Facia - which would be perfect, but they have run out so this is the perfect time to harvest some fresh. It grows in a few places throughout the forest but there’s a crop under a tree not far from Muriel’s hut.

Something cuts through the forest sounds just on the edge of hearing. Asra pauses for a moment, listening, then continues. He has only made it a few steps further when he hears it again.  
Screaming. It’s coming from the direction of Muriel’s hut.  
Mushrooms forgotten, Asra takes off at a run - flying over tree roots and boulders, a cold knot in his stomach. He can’t feel the sun on his face or the twigs tearing his skin or hear the whir of birds as they flee ahead of him. All he feels is the wild panic and the thump of blood in his ears.  
He hears it more clearly the next time.  
“Muriel!”  
That’s the apprentice’s voice.  
Faust pops out of his shirt.  
 _Trouble?_  
“Go! Find Inanna, make sure she’s okay.”  
Faust drops and disappears into the undergrowth.  
“Muriel! Oh god!” It comes again - begging, pleading, desperate.  
Something up ahead roars. Asra’s heart is pounding. He can’t feel his feet, can’t feel his body, his ears are ringing and all he can do is keep moving forward. One of the hanging charms bounces off his forehead as he runs and his terror rises. They should be keeping the hut safe. He’s almost there. What’s happening?

“Harder!”  
Asra catches his foot in a tree root on the edge of the clearing in front of Muriel’s hut and stumbles to a halt.  
“Oh god, please! Harder!”  
That’s definitely the apprentice’s voice.  
Asra hears a wordless growl. There’s a thump and a clatter from behind the door, and the sound of something rolling across the floor.  
“Don’t stop! Please! Harder! Muriel, please! Oh god don’t stop! Yes! Yes, yes, yesyesyes!” The words devolve into begging moans and whimpers.

Minutes pass as Asra stands rooted to the spot. His brain seems to have stopped working. Part of it is trying to get his attention - to tell him that discretion is the better part of valour, so he should leave immediately because what he is hearing is not a vicious attack but is, in fact, the sound of his apprentice being ploughed by Muriel.  
Wake up.  
Muriel is balls deep in the apprentice and Asra should definitely leave.  
Run.  
The hut has gone quiet.  
Play dead.  
There’s a rattle from inside.  
 **Do something.**

Before he can remember how his legs work, the door opens and Muriel steps out holding an empty bucket. He freezes as soon as he sees Asra, a flicker of confusion passing across his face like a cloud, quickly replaced by a look of stunned horror. Asra can’t look away.

Muriel is completely naked. His hair is a mess, his lips are bruised, there are scratches across his shoulders and down his arms. His skin glistens with sweat and a blush spreads all the way down over his chest, and he’s still half hard. Asra has never seen anything more perfect.

They both just stand and stare, each pinned by the other’s gaze, neither able to move or speak or look away. Asra prays for something, anything, to break this spell. His mouth is dry, his palms are sweating and his groin is hot. He is staring at his oldest friend, who has just been firmly nailing his apprentice.  
If the world could end right now that would be ideal.

As Asra considers following Lucio’s example and setting himself on fire, there is a scuffle from somewhere off to the left. One of the chickens comes running into the clearing, chased by another. In the split second Muriel glances away, the part of Asra’s brain not dedicated to terrible ideas steps in and he vanishes. Until now the spell has been a party trick. Asra’s ability to disappear from awkward social situations borders on legendary, but he never imagined it would have other uses.  
Between the trees some distance away, he sees Muriel looking around in bewilderment before heading off to the well, bucket in hand.

This never happened.  
Asra was never here.  
If anyone asks, he was definitely miles away doing something which isn’t this.

* * *

Back up the path, Asra finds Inanna showing Faust how to roll in the dirt. Her legs stick out every which way and her tongue lolls over her teeth. Faust doesn’t have nearly enough legs but is more than making up for it with enthusiasm - squirming in knots and rolling around with her mouth open. Inanna flips over and looks up at him, wagging like she has heard nothing and has no idea what has been going on in Muriel’s hut. Faust looks at him upside down from under her coils.  
 _Play!_  
“I’m sorry, Faust, I can’t play right now. I still need to get those mushrooms.”  
With a whuff, Inanna goes back to rolling, taking Faust through some of the more advanced positions, and Asra carries on deeper into the woods.

Tomorrow, or the day after, he will be proud of his apprentice - showing Muriel that he can put some of the past behind him, teaching him that his body can be used to make people feel good, that he’s allowed to be soft and enjoy things, and that he is precious and handsome and worthy of love. Asra will be proud that each has filled the other’s loneliness, and that they can share joy together. He will open his heart to their relationship and be glad for them.  
But all that will come tomorrow because right now, Asra needs to not think. He needs to not think about how the apprentice’s beautiful cries would sound in his ear, the way Muriel’s lips would feel on his skin, their shared warmth soothing the terror he felt as he charged through the forest believing his two favourite people were in danger.

Perhaps he can get Julian to cut that part of his brain out. He could happily lose the last hour, maybe the whole day. If Julian could also remove the part now irrevocably dedicated Muriel’s penis that would be a bonus.  
Another part of Asra’s brain suggests that, maybe if he drinks enough, he could wake up in a world where none of this has happened. It also says that Julian is a doctor and will know exactly what kind of tincture will help.

* * *

A follow up: [Boomerang](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725321)

**Author's Note:**

> Later, Inanna takes Faust on a tour of her favourite stagnant puddles and weird smelling logs.


End file.
